If they leave, some social scientists and economists argue, the current urban renaissance is toast - along with the prospect of future prosperity driven by the creative economy.
A three-day conference in Philadelphia last week sought to keep that from happening - by projecting the city as a progressive place and simultaneously cribbing good ideas from other regions.
The term "creative economy" is broad - perhaps conveniently so for the writer-consultants who peddle it - but as John Howkins, author of The Creative Economy defined it at the conference, "the creative economy is where most people spend most of their time and earn most of their money by dealing in ideas, not land, or natural resources or capital."
A common misconception is that most "creative" workers dress in black and paint or dance for a living. Some do, but others don white coats and work as scientists in pharmaceutical labs, or design software or establish businesses.
What they all want, said economist Richard Florida, a leading thinker in this field, are places to live where an acceptance of new ideas invites innovation.
These places "are open to the gay community," said Florida, who wrote The Flight of the Creative Class last year. "They are open to the arts and literature and the music community. They say, 'if you want to do something, you are welcome here.' "
Cities all over, from New York to Norristown to Paducah, Ky., are embracing the notion. In London, it's already a part of the city bureaucracy - a department called Creative London operates within its economic development branch.
Even local officials acknowledged last week that Philadelphia has done plenty to tick off creative types and their potential employers. The city's notorious wage tax, the haughty-sounding "business privilege tax," and labyrinthine zoning and permitting codes are but a few oft-cited peeves.
